Chapter 1
Entry from Master Warlock Azkar Nightbanee
The Taint.
It is not a person or a creature... It is not a common disease that can be cured with simple potions like we had thought it could be.
The Cure is fatal to the one who casts it upon the Tainted... The Cure takes the life of the one casting it while the Taint leaves the body of the sick… Although the caster must be willing to give their life or Nocturnal will reject it and the Tainted individual will carry the Taint until it consumes and destroys them.
Those with the Taint either die or are killed to try and stop the spread or they become one of the Taint Guardians, beings who have given in to the power of the Taint and used it to gain Demonic powers as they lay in their final moments of life… They seem much like the Forsaken, the living undead except they still have a beating heart, I should look more into this and discover what truly happens… This would require several individuals who have been Tainted, I should start looking for perfect subjects soon.
The Taint was said to have disappeared centuries ago but studies show that it is returning... The only way to stop the Taint is to kill the Keeper. This is difficult to do seeing as normally the Keeper themselves do not know they are the Keepers of the Taint until it consumes them and changes them into powerful beings that control Dark Magic.
They are Horrors.
The last Keeper was killed centuries ago and we thought it ended the Taint... Just before we killed the Keeper perhaps she had an Heir? One who would carry the Taint in their blood until the day it would resurface? The day Nocturnal was killed, the former Keeper, she said the Taint would never die... Would return one day...
Maybe we should've heeded her warning. Her people, the Night Elves, have checked newborn after newborn for any signs of the Taint as have the other races... Maybe we should have sent the Warlocks to the little villages to check... Maybe then we could have stopped the Taint before it begun to kill innocents... But it is too late, the Taint is once again spreading across Azeroth with nothing to stop it. The research that was written down centuries ago were locked and forgotten in an old ruined city that no one knows the where bouts too, even if we did find the city it was said that the Gods constructed a mountain around it to seal evidence of the Taint within. We must start by scratch and figure out how the Cure worked, find suitable willing Sacrifices, the words used to call upon Nocturnal to Cure the Tainted and take the Caster's life... I hope we can stop this Taint before it becomes worse than the Scourge attacks... I fear many will lose their lives to the Taint... And then there will be nothing left but decaying bodies upon Azeroth...
I must return to the books and see if I can find more on the Taint... There are very few books still intact that hold some information of the Taint, so far we only know that it came from the Nether when a dark powerful Warlock hungered for power to kill thousands… quietly, painfully, a Demon called... What was it? Oh yes! Nocturnal, the very same who was the Keeper I remember now! She granted him the power of the Taint; just before the Warlock was killed Nocturnal took her Gift for herself... She possessed a young Night Elven woman's body and spread the Taint, never drawing attention to herself until the day a Blood Elf had managed to escape from her. The Alliance and Horde tracked her down and caught up to her in the now forgotten city which holds the answers to everything we need to know. A young male Blood Elf Rouge killed her and as she lay dying she told the Blood Elf.
" I will return. My Taint will return and all shall die. One day a newborn Child will be born and carry the Taint within their veins... And so the cycle shall start again until my Heir is killed or you all die...you can never escape there will always be an Heir... Nocturnal wills it so..."
I hope someone finds the Keeper soon... I heard the Blood Elves' High Preistess Shioria has the Taint and remains sleeping, slowly dying...
I'm going to Ashenvale tomorrow, my contact has told me she found a book that goes into specific details about the Taint and Nocturnal. How Zara found such a book is beyond my wonder, finding useful things that have been lost has always been her specialty... As a Hunter I imagine she has lots of time on her hands, too bad she couldn't find the Ruined City though. I'll be meeting a Blood Elf Paladin there, Fenir, who is searching for answers on how to Cure the Taint as well. I believe Shioria is his elder sister. Poor lad.
Well I'll let you know when I have more details.
Until tomorrow my dear Journal!
- Master Warlock Azkar of the Worgen
